


Daddy Issues? Maybe.

by chokememrstark



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Arguing, Daddy Kink, Jealousy, M/M, Mutual Pining, Online Dating, Sugar Daddy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:40:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25862962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chokememrstark/pseuds/chokememrstark
Summary: Ever since he's around Tony, Peter developed certain... likings. But since he doesn't want to mess up the friendship with him, he looks for alternative ways to deal with them.
Relationships: Peter Parker/Tony Stark
Comments: 8
Kudos: 435





	Daddy Issues? Maybe.

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little something I felt like writing, I hope you enjoy!

There's nothing wrong with being interested in a certain type, Peter thinks to himself as he browses various adult websites for some interesting content. He's an adult now, isn't he? He can like who he likes. If what he likes happens to be older men, so what? It's not like he's hurting anyone.

Peter never considered himself to have daddy issues, why would he? He barely even remembers his dad, there's not much he could have an issue with, really.

And yet, slow but steady he moves from mid-twenties to mid-thirties in his searches and eventually ends up somewhere between forty and fifty. It's not really a surprise when he alters his search by simply adding the word 'Daddy'. That's more like it, but still, he doesn't see an issue with it - or the correlation, for that matter.

Two or three times a week, Peter is invited over to Tony's place where they tinker on his suit, upgrade it or work on one of Tony's other projects together - one time they even just chilled and watched a movie because Tony was hungover as all hell. He enjoys those days greatly, always learns something new or sees something he's never seen before. Tony is great company and it's fun to talk to someone about the things he likes without being called a nerd.

And yet, Peter often leaves with a strange, empty feeling in his chest on those days. He's happy, but something feels off. His crush on Tony is no secret, really, at least not to himself or his friends, even if Tony seems to be completely oblivious to it, but he doesn't connect the dots like that. They're friends too now, after all. It just doesn't add up.

On one of those days he feels this strange emptiness, Peter decides to distract himself by scrolling through various apps. One of them, which he installed out of curiosity mostly, is a dating app. And there, he stumbles over a guy who looked at his profile. A rather good looking one too.

Peter didn't specify much on his profile, didn't even put in a preferred age group, but this guy… he sparks his interest enough to check his profile out in return.

45\. Muscular. Dark hair, brown eyes. Charming smile. If he squints hard enough, there's even a similar look to Tony, with some imagination. And all the way down, that one word. Daddy.

"Huh," Peter hums, curious enough to scroll through the man's pictures. He's good-looking, no doubt about that. Seems very nice and friendly, though one can never tell on these apps and Peter knows that of course.

Still, he has to do something about those urges he's been having and if he can find a Daddy to have some fun with, maybe he won't screw up things with Tony. He'd hate nothing more than to slip up and ruin their friendship with it or make it awkward. Not now when they are more relaxed and comfortable around each other.

So, Peter messages the guy. And they start talking. It's a bit slow at first, but they quickly start talking about what they're looking for and surprisingly, they're on the same page. Peter makes it clear though that he's not one to hop into bed with a stranger right away, that he needs to get to know him first before that becomes a topic. It's a huge relief when he's met with understanding and the invitation to a casual date to talk a bit and see if they get along offline too.

A week later, Peter waits in front of a café for his date, nervous but at the same time a bit excited. He doesn't have feelings for the guy for obvious reasons but who knows. He likes him so far, so it's understandable that he's a bit excited.

Two hours in and Peter is enjoying himself quite a lot. Julian, his date, even invites him to go window shopping and makes it clear that he doesn't expect anything in return. He just wants to make it a nice day for Peter and well, even if he's flustered, he just can't say no.

Maybe he  _ should _ have said no, he realizes far too late, when he's standing outside a boutique with two bags in his hands, laughing. Because that's when he sees a reflection in the window and to be honest, it couldn't have been a worse time, especially with Julian's hand on his hip and so close to him.

It's Tony.

"M-Mr. Stark!" Peter yelps and jumps a little as he turns around, completely shocked and with his cheeks flushed.

"Hello, Peter," Tony says in an unusual voice and Peter doesn't miss the way he looks at the bags and the hand on his hip, or at Julian shortly after. "Having fun?"

"Y-Yeah, I… I mean, it's not…" Fuck, he has no idea what to say, this is so embarrassing. And awkward.

"I can see that," Tony says in the same tone as before that unnerves Peter to no end before shooting Julian a glare that lasts maybe half a second. "Well, I will see you tomorrow, unless you're too busy, of course."

And with that, he just leaves.

"That was weird," Julian says after a seemingly endless moment. Peter just drops his shoulders and his head, too baffled to reply right away. "Wasn't that that Stark guy? You know him?"

"Yeah, kind of," Peter sighs, chewing on the insides of his cheeks as he looks back up hesitantly. Part of him wants Tony to stand there, but of course he doesn't. "I'm working with him sometimes, it's an intern sort of thing."

"An intern for Iron Man, not bad," Julian says amused, but Peter can't find anything funny or amusing about this. "You're full of surprises, Peter."

"You have no idea," Peter sighs, suddenly feeling the urge to leave. Fast. "I'm sorry, but I think I should go."

"Is everything alright?" Julian asks, sounding very worried, and Peter quickly shakes his head.

"Yeah, no, I don't know, really," he says, giving his date an apologetic weak smile. "It's getting late and I've got a lot to do tomorrow, but it was a nice date, really. And, thank you for these." He holds up the bags, smiling awkwardly. "You really didn't have to."

"Nonsense," Julian says, waving his hand to signal Peter it's okay. "It was my pleasure and I enjoyed the time with you a lot. Maybe we can repeat it some other time?"

He sounds hopeful and Peter hates that he can't give him a yes because before running into Tony, he would have right away.

"I hope so," Peter says instead, trying to sound optimistic. "I'll message you, okay? But I really gotta go now."

Peter all but runs down the street and back home and buries himself under his blanket, groaning frustrated.

"I'm such a dumb fuck, ugh!"

Why, why why why did he agree to go window shopping, why did he even agree on a date in the first place? Tony looked so pissed and he has seen him pissed, it wasn't different from that. Maybe with less anger but that doesn't matter. And Tony isn't dumb, he can add two and two, he knows Peter has been on a date and he also knows what kind of dynamic they had.

"He's gonna hate me…"

The next day, Peter spends far too long in front of the tower. Usually he just goes inside and heads down to the lab, but today he hesitates. What if Tony kicks him out? What if he's angry at him? He doesn't really have a reason but that doesn't mean Peter wants either of those things to happen.

Eventually, he can't stand around doing nothing anymore and takes a deep breath, heading inside.

Tony is in his lab just as normal and Peter walks in quietly, knowing Friday already announced him.

"Hey, Mr. Stark, sorry for being late," Peter apologizes, but he only earns a mumble in return. Usually, Tony stops what he's doing to greet him, but today he doesn't.

After a long moment, Peter sighs and walks over to his desk to work on his part of the suit upgrade they started the last time. It feels like forever before Tony is done tinkering on his own suit and walks over. He doesn't get angry though, or even says much at all, and after a while, Peter wishes he would.

It's not comfortable today, it's just awkward and tense and Peter's attempts at small talk all end up dying pretty quickly again. Something is clearly wrong but Tony doesn't talk about it and Peter is too afraid to ask, so he tries his best to pull through it and leaves an hour earlier than he normally would, feeling horribly crushed.

He can't even eat dinner properly, his appetite just isn't there, and eventually drops into bed at ten, not wanting to be awake anymore. This is really the worst thing that could've happened. He doesn't text Julian that day or the day after, not really knowing what to say.

In the week that follows, all his visits at Tony's lab are similar to this one. Lots of silence, working mostly alone, no laughing, no jokes and just overall awkward.

After the fourth day like this, Peter can't take it anymore. They went from friends who get along well to almost strangers in a heartbeat and it breaks him. When it's time to leave, Peter gets up but then stops and turns to Tony.

"Can you please say something?" he asks, desperate for this to end finally. "Or get angry at me? Please?"

"Why would I get angry?" Tony asks without even looking up from his screen, making Peter scream internally. "Everything is perfectly fine."

"No, it's not and you know it!" Peter says loudly, clenching his fists. Now it's him who gets angry, perfect. "You're treating me like air suddenly and I want you to stop, please!"

"And why is that, what do you think?" Tony asks after a moment, finally looking up and his eyes are eerily cold.

"Because you're mad at me ever since that day and I don't know  _ why _ !" Peter almost sobs, mad at himself now for being so damn emotional over this. "Just tell me, please! I just had a  _ date _ , I'm an adult, I can go on dates, dammit!"

"Sure you can," Tony says, shrugging and getting up from his desk. "You can have as many dates as you want. And you can do whatever with whoever you want."

"Then act like it and don't suddenly pretend you barely know me when I'm here! What's your damn problem if I can do what I want?"

"My problem is that you're getting yourself some weak ass wannabe sugar daddy when I'm right here, for fuck's sake!" Tony growls, slamming his fist on the table so hard he knocks a mug off of it that falls to the floor and shatters into pieces. He startles Peter so much he actually flinches.

For over two minutes, the two stare at each other in complete silence. The realization over what Tony just blurted out is visible on both of their faces and so is the shock.

"Did you… really just say that…" Peter finally asks, having to summon all his courage to even speak.

"You bet your ass I did," Tony huffs before turning around. For a split second, Peter swears he saw embarrassment on his face, but he can't say for sure.

"But… you never…"

"Forget it," Tony interrupts Peter before he can continue, shaking his head. "You already have someone, so just... forget it."

"But I don't," Peter mumbles, dropping his head to look down at his feet.

"Wait, what?" Now Tony sounds mostly confused and Peter sighs.

"I don't have anyone," he admits, turning his head away. "We had one date and talked, that's all. We don't…  _ have _ anything."

Tony looks genuinely surprised at that and his anger seems to vanish over it. Peter shakes his head, finally looking back up.

"Why do you think I even tried to find someone like that?" he asks seriously, eyes full of hurt. "Just so what's happening now won't happen. So I wouldn't ruin everything between us and now it happened anyway."

"What do you mean?" Tony asks confused, making Peter groan.

"You and me?" he asks, almost sarcastically, as if it's that hard to see. "Hell, MJ and Ned are teasing me about my crush on you for months and you tell me you didn't notice anything? Seriously?"

Tony looks like Peter just slapped him in the face. "You… you're crushing… on  _ me _ ?"

"That's like asking me if it's dark at night," Peter says, rolling his eyes. "Yes, I'm crushing on you and because I didn't want to slip up I tried to find someone to get those feelings I have because of you out of my system! It's not like I can walk up to you and say 'Hey, Mr. Stark, I want you to be my Daddy, thanks'!"

"And why not?" Tony asks bluntly, in return, stunning Peter for a moment.

"Say what now?"

"Why didn't you?" Tony asks again, sounding more serious this time. "What's stopping you? Do you think I'd laugh or tell you to leave?"

"Well, yes?" Peter huffs as if Tony just asked the most stupid question ever. "You're not exactly the least intimidating person, you know."

"Peter," Tony sighs, his voice a mixture of serious and sad, something that completely catches Peter off guard when he steps closer. "Do you truly believe I'd ever send you away for any reason?"

"I didn't want to take the chance," Peter admits quietly, looking away. It's only a brief moment before Tony turns his head back around by gently tilting his chin with two fingers.

"I'd never do that to you, Peter," he says seriously, looking into the boy's sad eyes. "Seeing you with this guy… it was a nightmare. Because I realized I wasted my chance. Because I realized you found what you want elsewhere."

"Mr. Stark…"

"That's not what you want to say and you know it," Tony smirks, brushing a finger over Peter's cheek. "Go on, it's okay."

"Daddy…" Peter whispers, tears in his eyes at finally being able to say what he wants to say for so long already. Tony's smirk turns into a smile and he leans down, pressing a soft kiss onto the boy's lips.

"Good boy," he purrs when he pulls back, looking at Peter with such a sweet look it makes his knees weak. "You don't have to go find someone else, Petey."

"I don't want to," Peter sniffs and wraps his arms around Tony, hugging him tight. "I don't want someone else."

"It's okay, baby," Tony smiles, kissing Peter's head as he hugs him back just as tight. "You're my boy, you've been all this time. I'm sorry I didn't show you that before."

"You really mean it, right?" Peter asks, looking up hopefully. "You want to be with me too?"

"Oh, Petey," Tony chuckles, leaning down to kiss his cheek. "Have you seen yourself or noticed that I go out of my way to spend as much time with you as possible? Of course I want to be with you. I just never thought you'd want an old man like me."

At this, Peter has to chuckle himself and his smile is the sweetest, most adorable sight. "Turns out I'm into older guys, so you're just perfect for me."

"I hope I will be," Tony says, pulling Peter close against his chest and burying his nose in his hair. "I'll do anything to make you happy, I promise."

Peter sighs, so relieved and happy, and rests his head against Tony's chest. "My Daddy," he whispers, smiling softly.

Yes, that's what he's been missing. This is right. There's nothing else he needs but this.


End file.
